It probably isn’t all that fair to say the assumption is about women as a homogenous group, but the discussions do tend to start out that way. It’s about what women do, what women want, etc. In reality, we know that we are very different and want lots of different things, some of it dependent on our general interests, life goals, stage of life (nice way of putting age), etc. The biggest push for these thoughts today is about the environment. My soapbox (dated term) generally supports me talking about the fact that we should think small/medium size businesses first, then large. In this case, the questions about women in the economy are those generally thought of as about women in large businesses. This is not unusual, in fact, it’s the default. I’ve raised the same question about Wall Street Journal’s women’s programs. But what really hit me during the panel was that we don’t know how or if it’s different in smaller businesses. So I’m proposing two primary questions for us all to watch, think about, and hopefully discuss.

1) Do women manage differently? The relevant question for us today is do women manage differently when they own the company? Why would this be different? Because they are now able to set the standards they want in the company. There is no pipeline issue and these women founders are even setting the tone for their own corporate culture. We can also bring in the question of how much the industry impacts the management style. I’ve heard debates between women owning design studies and those owning construction companies that certainly support the role of industry. While one (design) wanted to promote a management style and business culture that promoted innovation among all team members. The other (clearly construction) just wanted everyone to be safe. While you can debate that one doesn’t preclude the other, it’s intriguing.

2) Do women handle work/life balance differently depending on the size of the company? This question is for not only the owners, but also all the women employed by the companies. I did share on the panel that when women tell us they are starting a business so they have more time with their families, we are not amused. However, we do understand the assumption of having more flexibility for how your life is arranged when you own the business. The flip of this one – if you are an employee in a small or medium business, it may be harder for the company to cover for you to provide flexibility. Then again, providing that kind of flexibility may be something a smaller company may give you when they can’t quite compete with large company salaries or benefits.